


stranded here among us (the difference is we're found)

by mywordsflyup



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Camping, Falling In Love, Heat Magic, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Swimming, Travel, Warden Carver Hawke, Warden Felix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 08:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5736964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mywordsflyup/pseuds/mywordsflyup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carver is halfway out of his clothes before he realizes what happened. He pauses, his tunic already lifted up his chest. “Wait,” he says, his brow knitted. “Are you goading me?” </p><p>Felix laughs again. “Perhaps a little bit? It’s working, is it not?” </p><p>For some reason, that only makes Carver want to prove himself even more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stranded here among us (the difference is we're found)

**Author's Note:**

> For the tumblr prompt "anticipation". Which my brain always reads as "FIRST KISSES".
> 
> Carver is one of the HoF's Warden at Vigil's Keep. Felix gets saved from the Taint by going through the Joining sometime after In Hushed Whispers. The Warden-Commander tells Carver to take Felix under his wing. In the beginning, he hates it. Later, not so much.
> 
> Inspired by countless hours of headcanons with [Byacolate](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Byacolate/).

Carver is used to being the first one up in the morning. Even in a fortress as big as Vigil’s Keep, he was usually the first. First in the kitchens. First in the washrooms. First in the training yard. 

He’d never admit it but what had started out as the natural conclusion of nightmares and homesickness over time turned into a point of pride. Everyone knew that it didn’t matter when they got up. Carver would already be there. Fed, clothed and washed. Probably already done with his personal training before the official morning drill even started. Sometimes the Commander teased him for it a little bit. Called him early bird. He liked that as well. 

But things are different now. Not just because he’s miles away from Vigil’s Keep and even further from the Warden-Commander. It’s because of Felix. 

A lot of things are different because of Felix. Some bad, like how he’s not able to ride as fast and far as he would like because even though it has been months since his Joining, Felix is still recovering from the effects of the sickness he carried with him for years. (He doesn’t complain when he gets tired but Carver notices and it’s not like he’s going to push him past his limits just because Felix is too proud or too polite to say something.) 

Or how he still makes for a shit sparring partner. Or how he takes up more than his half of the tent even though he is so much smaller than Carver. 

There are good things, too. Things Carver finds he doesn’t actually minds after a while. Like how Felix always manages to cook something that tastes at least halfway decent even if they are almost out of provisions. 

Or how he always goes out of his way to help people, even if it’s inconvenient. Even the ones who are poor or sick. The ones nobody else sees. (Carver sees them because he used to be one of them. Felix sees them because he is Felix.) How he speaks to them softly in their own mother tongue if he knows it. He usually does. 

Or how he talks with his hands whenever he has a particularly good story to tell. Or whenever he forgets a word in Common. Or he sometimes falls asleep huddled in front of the fire and mumbles in his sleep. Or how he smiles when Carver wakes him, still soft and quiet and content with being led back to the tent. 

It’s not like Carver actively thinks about these things. He just notices. That’s all. 

Things are different with Felix. And it’s never as obvious as it is in the mornings when Carver wakes up to find the bedroll next to his deserted.

It used to jolt him awake in the beginning - thoughts of Felix missing or in danger or dead already running through his head. He was his responsibility, after all. Not one he asked for but his nonetheless. 

Now it’s nothing but a small prickle of irritation at the back of his neck, slowly pulling him from sleep. He can hear the quiet lapping of the lake on shore and the crackling of the fire outside, which means Felix must have been awake for a while. Carver sighs and stretches out his legs, taking advantage of the empty tent for once, until another sound makes him pause. Splashing. 

He is out of his tent quicker than he ever remembers doing. He shields his eyes from the bright morning light, frantically searching the surface of the lake for what can only be a drowning Felix. Whatever motivated him to get into the water in the first place? Perhaps he fell in? 

There. Ripples in the smooth dark surface, just about a hundred yards from shore. Carver is halfway out of his shirt and halfway to the edge of the water when Felix’ emerges with another loud splash - quite similar to the one that drove Carver from his tent in the first place. 

He is not drowning. He’s swimming. 

Carver stops dead in tracks, his toes digging into the soft sand as he watches Felix make a few broad strokes before diving down again and vanishing from view. He re-emerges a bit further to right after a few heartbeats and after watching him do this a couple of times, Carver is almost convinced that he will not stop coming back up for air all of a sudden. 

Felix is a good swimmer, as far as Carver can judge. Which, admittedly is not much. There was a small lake near Lothering where he and Bethany used to swim sometimes in the summer. But nothing like this vast dark expanse before him now. And once he got to Kirkwall… Well, only those with a death wish would have even considered it. 

It takes a while for Felix to notice him standing on the shore but when he does, he stops and waves at him. Carver finds himself waving back before he’s even aware his hand has moved. 

“Good morning!” Felix calls out, chipper as always. 

“Are you insane?” Carver shouts back. “Isn’t the water freezing?” 

“Oh, yes. It is!” Felix’ laugh carries over the lake. “You should come in. It’s marvelous!” 

“Uh, no, thank you.” He has already lost almost all of sleep's comfortable warmth due to his hasty run out of the tent. He’s not about to dive head-first into an ice-cold lake. 

He’s not certain if Felix hasn’t heard him or if he just won’t accept Carver’s reluctance. In any case, he goes underwater again and the next time he resurfaces, he’s significantly closer to shore. A few more strokes and the water is shallow enough for him to stand and walk the rest of the distance. 

A few steps from shore, he halts and half-heartedly splashes some water in Carver’s direction. The water only reaches up to about his navel now and when he realizes where his gaze has wandered, Carver forces himself to keep his eyes on his face. 

Felix looks good. Healthy, Carver corrects himself. He’s still a bit too thin but the traces the years of illness have left on his body are difficult to erase. And while the Commander demands basic melee training even from the Warden mages, most of them never reach the mass of the order’s warriors anyway. 

Felix’ laugh startles him out of his thoughts. “Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there and stare?”

Carver folds his arms and shakes his head. “Too cold.” 

“Oh.” Even from this distance, Carver can see Felix’ lips curl upward into a smile. “I thought a Warden like yourself would be a little bit more adventurous...” 

Carver is halfway out of his clothes before he realizes what happened. He pauses, his tunic already lifted up his chest. “Wait,” he says, his brow knitted. “Are you goading me?” 

Felix laughs again. “Perhaps a little bit? It’s working, is it not?” 

For some reason, that only makes Carver want to prove himself even more. He pulls the tunic all the way off and lets it fall next to the heap of what must be Felix’ discarded clothes. He stops when something catches his eyes. He has traveled with Felix long enough to know the clothes he owns and what he wears to sleep at night. 

“Felix,” he says, suddenly unable to look at him. “Why in the Maker’s name are you naked?” 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Because someone could see?” 

Carver thinks Felix is going to laugh again but when he stays silent he finally dares to look up - only to find Felix staring at him intently. “You are the only around,” he says and turns around to dive back in. 

Carver doesn’t know what startles him more - Felix’ words or the split-second of bare arse he flashes him before disappearing underwater. 

He keeps his pants on. At least one of them should, he thinks. 

The water is just as cold as he thought it would be. Colder, perhaps. But nobody would ever call Carver Hawke a coward. And he has faced worse than ice-cold water lapping at his calves. And his thighs. And his crotch. Certainly. 

He’s up to his chest and regretting every single one of his life choices, when Felix resurfaces next to him, so close that Carver lets out an undignified little shriek he only poorly manages to cover with a cough. The water is so dark he didn’t even see him coming. 

“You’re nuts,” he says, his teeth chattering so much he isn’t even sure Felix can understand him. “This is awful.” 

Felix bites his bottom lip. “Oh, please don’t be mad.” 

“Why would I be…” 

Felix moves quickly but not quickly enough. It’s more of a reflex but when he reaches out for him, Carver grabs his wrist just before he can touch him. For a moment, they just stare at each other, Carver holding on to Felix’ arm. Then, he feels it. 

“What the hell?” 

It’s warmth. Felix’ skin in warm underneath his touch and one heartbeat later, the same warmth starts creeping up his own fingers and hand. It’s nice, like warm water running over his skin, up his arm and to his shoulder. 

“It’s a spell,” Felix explains, looking only a little bit contrite. 

“You’ve been cheating!” Carver cannot quite wrap his head around the sensation of the pleasant warmth in his left arm but the freezing cold of the rest of his body. 

“Only a little bit.” Felix smiles so innocently that Carver can’t really work up the energy to be upset. “May I?” He hold up his free hand, wiggling his fingers a little bit. 

Carver blinks at him but then nods. Felix touch is fleeting, just little brushes of his fingers against Carver’s skin. His waist, his chest, his shoulder. But everywhere he touches, Carver feels the same magical warmth spreading through his body.

Felix hesitates a little before touching his face but then he gently cradles it in his hand. Warmth starts spreading up and over his scalp and Carver closes his eyes when it runs over the back of his head and down his spine. He doesn’t notice the soft moan building in his chest until he hears it coming out of his own mouth. 

“Carver?” Felix’ voice is soft and when Carver opens his eyes he finds him standing very, very close. The hand around Felix’ wrist goes slack and wanders just enough for Carver to lace his fingers through Felix’. 

It’s inevitable, he thinks when Felix fingers curl around the nape of his neck and gently pull him down. Inevitable when his lips press against Carver’s, warm and soft and just right. 

It’s not like Carver has been actively thinking about this. 

Of course not.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Young Summer's "Blood Love". 
> 
> You can also follow my [tumblr](http://damnable-rogue.tumblr.com) if you're interested.


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